Rankings go up on Mondays.
Ranked fights this week:
- Heavyweight: (9) Michael Hunter vs Jerry Forrest, Dec. 2
- Middleweight: (4) Sergiy Derevyanchenko vs Carlos Adames, Dec. 5
- Junior Middleweight: (7) Sebastian Fundora vs (10) Sergio Garcia, Dec. 5
- Junior Welterweight: (9) Montana Love vs Carlos Diaz, Dec. 4
- Lightweight: (5) Devin Haney vs (9) Joseph Diaz Jr, Dec. 4
- Lightweight: (7) Gervonta Davis vs Isaac Cruz, Dec. 5
- Women’s P4P: (4) Jessica McCaskill vs Victoria Bustos, Dec. 4
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Upcoming Fights: (9) Michael Hunter vs Jerry Forrest, Dec. 2 … (8) Joseph Parker vs Derek Chisora, Dec. 18
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Upcoming Fights: (3) Ilunga Junior Makabu vs (10) Thabiso Mchunu, Jan. 29
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Notes: With Badou Jack making the full move to cruiserweight, we had an opening. Umar Salamov is in, which could be a short stay as he faces Dmitry Bivol on Dec. 11.
Upcoming Fights: (2) Dmitry Bivol vs (10) Umar Salamov, Dec. 11 … (1) Artur Beterbiev vs (4) Marcus Browne, Dec. 17 … (5) Gilberto Ramirez vs Yunieski Gonzalez, Dec. 18 … (3) Joe Smith Jr vs Callum Johnson, Jan. 15
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Upcoming Fights: (5) Carlos Gongora vs Lerrone Richards, Dec. 18 … (10) David Morrell Jr vs Alantez Fox, Dec. 18
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Upcoming Fights: (4) Sergiy Derevyanchenko vs Carlos Adames, Dec. 5 … (1) Gennadiy Golovkin vs (5) Ryota Murata, Dec. 29 … (6) Chris Eubank Jr vs (9) Liam Williams, Jan. 29
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Upcoming Fights: (7) Sebastian Fundora vs (10) Sergio Garcia, Dec. 5 … (1) Jermell Charlo vs (2) Brian Castano, Feb. 19 … (8) Michel Soro vs (9) Israil Madrimov, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (10) Conor Benn vs Chris Algieri, Dec. 11 … (3) Yordenis Ugas vs Eimantas Stanionis, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (9) Montana Love vs Carlos Diaz, Dec. 4 … (3) Jose Ramirez vs (7) Jose Pedraza, Feb. 5 … (1) Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall, Feb. 26
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Notes: George Kambosos Jr jumps a full eight spots to No. 1 in the lightweight rankings after his clear and fully deserved victory over Teofimo Lopez on Saturday. Having Kambosos as the No. 1 lightweight in the world in a division where there are names like Lopez and Lomachenko and far more hyped guys like Garcia, Haney, and Tank Davis may seem weird, but it is what it is. They fought the fights. Lopez beat Lomachenko. Kambosos beat Lopez. Neither of them were questionable, no matter what the losers of the fights said afterward.
There will be some reshuffling, perhaps, in the coming couple of weeks. We’ve got meaningful fights in Haney-JoJo Diaz, Tank-Isaac Cruz, and Loma-Commey, and how everyone looks in those fights plus the results will perhaps see the need to take new stock of where the division stands. Ryan Garcia, for one thing, is probably going to drop some because he hasn’t been active and the other guys are taking at least decent fights — I know Tank-Cruz doesn’t light anyone up, but Cruz has an argument for the back end of the top 10 right now, too — and actually doing something does matter.
But Kambosos is staying No. 1. I don’t care what Haney or JoJo or Tank or Loma or Commey do the next two weekends, George Kambosos Jr fully earned his No. 1 ranking for right now. He is the top dog at 135 lbs. There’s not a single “lineal” championship that has any stronger an actual “beat the man who beat the man” case than there is with a consensus No. 1 fan/media/analyst/however you want to put it ranking. Lomachenko was consensus No. 1. Lopez was consensus No. 1. Kambosos beat the man who beat the man for real.
As for Teofimo, I stand by what I said here, even if it doesn’t make sense to you personally, or you’re certain that he’s simply done for good or was always bad or whatever. For me, give him the chance to get his house in order and come back. I’m not writing him off because of Saturday. But if he doesn’t get his house in order — hey, I hear ya.
Upcoming Fights: (5) Devin Haney vs (9) Joseph Diaz Jr, Dec. 4 … (7) Gervonta Davis vs Isaac Cruz, Dec. 5 … (3) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs (8) Richard Commey, Dec. 11 … (8) Jorge Linares vs Michel Rivera, TBA
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Notes: Kenichi Ogawa hurls himself into the top five with his IBF title-winning victory over Azinga Fuzile on Saturday, a good fight and a terrific performance from the Japanese veteran that went largely overlooked because, well, Kambosos turned the boxing world on its ear an hour later, and also Stephen Fulton Jr and Brandon Figueroa had a war.
Ogawa has long been a good fighter, but wasn’t getting really notable results after his controversial win over Tevin Farmer in 2017, which was then overturned because he tested positive for the sort of steroid that you just cannot insist got slipped into a ham sandwich. So he’d sort of fallen by the wayside, but he was always out there. He got his chance and made it stick.
Fuzile drops a couple spots to No. 9, and he’s in that sort of spot right now where he’s ripe to be replaced if some fighters start making noise behind him. Xavier Martinez is right there with a chance to do so, plus guys like Muhammad Yakubov, Lamont Roach, Albert Bell, Joe Cordina, Abraham Nova. Robson Conceicao could probably be ranked on his performance against Oscar Valdez, but he also had his performance against Louie Coria, too.
Upcoming Fights: (6) Shavkat Rakhimov vs Rilwan Oladosu, Dec. 11 … (7) Chris Colbert vs (8) Roger Gutierrez, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (2) Gary Russell Jr vs Mark Magsayo, TBA … (6) Leigh Wood vs Michael Conlan, TBA
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Notes: Stephen Fulton Jr made his case for the top spot on Saturday, winning a war with Brandon Figueroa on Showtime. I watched the last half of the fight live after wrapping up the first chunk of Lopez-Kambosos fallout, and then watched it in full on Sunday morning. I thought Fulton won, I thought Figueroa’s post-fight interview was not far off from Teofimo Territory, but not as many people watched or cared so not so many people gave him guff for it. Perhaps the worst part was agreeing to do a rematch then immediately backpedaling because he’s going to go up to 126 and “at the end of the day, it’s, like……….”
I’m sticking with Akhmadaliev at No. 1, though it’s not by much. Fulton didn’t beat Figueroa so convincingly, and the win over Figueroa is about as good as MJ’s win over Danny Roman. You could have Fulton in the top spot and I wouldn’t argue, though. He’s a hell of a good fighter. The best thing to do would be settle it, and I actually think MJ and Fulton will do so next year if they’re both still standing. Akhmadaliev does have to face mandatory Ronny Rios at some point.
Figueroa says he’s moving to 126 but we’ll wait and see for now. Otherwise, I’m not dropping him, and the most I considered was down to No. 4 below Roman.
Upcoming Fights: (1) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (8) Ronny Rios, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (2) Nonito Donaire vs Reymart Gaballo, Dec. 11 … (3) John Riel Casimero vs Paul Butler, Dec. 11 … (1) Naoya Inoue vs Aran Dipaen, Dec. 14 … (9) Lee McGregor vs Narek Abgaryan, Dec. 18
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Upcoming Fights: (9) Donnie Nietes vs Norbelto Jimenez, Dec. 11 … (2) Kazuto Ioka vs (5) Jerwin Ancajas, Dec. 31 … (1) Juan Francisco Estrada vs (4) Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA … (3) Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs Carlos Cuadras, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (2) Sunny Edwards vs Jayson Mama, Dec. 11 … (3) Junto Nakatani vs Cristian Gonzalez, Dec. 29
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Upcoming Fights: (3) Masamichi Yabuki vs (5) Kenshiro Teraji, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (9) Vic Saludar vs Erick Rosa Pacheco, Dec. 9 … (1) Knockout CP Freshmart vs Robert Paradero, Dec. 14 … (4) Wilfredo Mendez vs Masataka Taniguchi, Dec. 14 … (2) Petchmanee CP Freshmart vs (3) Wanheng Menayothin, Jan. 25
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Notes: Teofimo’s out. Yes, I think Ioka is that good. Yes, I think you could put Kambosos in.
Upcoming Fights: (7) Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Richard Commey, Dec. 11 … (3) Naoya Inoue vs Aran Dipaen, Dec. 14 … (10) Kazuto Ioka vs Jerwin Ancajas, Dec. 31 … (6) Josh Taylor vs Jack Catterall, Feb. 26 … (9) Juan Francisco Estrada vs Chocolatito Gonzalez, TBA
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Upcoming Fights: (4) Jessica McCaskill vs Victoria Bustos, Dec. 4 … (1) Katie Taylor vs Firuza Sharipova, Dec. 11 … (2) Claressa Shields vs Ema Kozin, Jan. 29 … (7) Seniesa Estrada vs Maria Santizo, Dec. 18 … (10) Chantelle Cameron vs Kali Reis, TBA